Advisory Board

The Archer Foundation is honored to have distinguished science experts who serve on the advisory board. The participation of Drs . Regis Kelly and Zach Hall has been significant because of the wealth of knowledge they bring to the Foundation on current issues in neuroscience, funding gaps, and promising research.

Dr. Regis Kelly, Ph.D., Advisor 2015 - presentDr. Regis B. Kelly is the Director of one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation, created by the California Legislature to strengthen the academic foundation of its technology-based industries. QB3 is the only one of the four devoted exclusively to biology and to the life science industries. It is an innovation center made up of over 200 quantitative biologists at three northern California campuses (UCB, UCSC & UCSF) working at the interface of the physical and biological sciences and a team of professionals converting its discoveries into practical benefits for society.

From 2001 to 2004, Dr. Kelly served as Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of California in San Francisco, where his major responsibility was the new Mission Bay campus.

From 1995 to 2000, Dr. Kelly served as Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF; from 1988 to 1995, he was the Director of UCSF’s Cell Biology Graduate Program; and from 1992 to 2000, he was the Director of the Hormone Research Institute at UCSF. He has published extensively in the areas of cell and neurobiology.

Dr. Kelly received his undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1961 and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the California Institute of Technology in 1967. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford, Dr. Kelly was an instructor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard. He has served as Chairman of the Bay Area Scientific Innovation Consortium (BASIC) and on the Boards of the Malaysian Biotechnology Industry Advisory Board, the Scleroderma Research Foundation, Bridge Pharmaceuticals, the San Francisco Mayor’s Biotechnology Advisory Group and the San Francisco China Desk, among others. He is also a General Partner of Mission Bay Capital venture fund.

Dr. Zach Hall, Ph.D., Advisor 2015 - 2016Zach Hall completed his B.S. degree in English at Yale University in 1958, and completed a Ph.D. in biochemistry at Harvard in 1966. He next moved to the West Coast and worked as a fellow in biochemistry at Stanford University from 1967 to 1968. After his postdoctoral training, he joined the faculty of the Department of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School, serving there for eight years.In 1976, Zach Hall was recruited to UCSF’s Department of Physiology to head a new Division of Neurobiology. At UCSF he created an interdepartmental neuroscience program, which led to UCSF’s rise to national leadership in the field, and acted as a model for stimulating cross-disciplinary research. 1987 he became Chair of the Department of Physiology, and in 1994 became head of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.

In 1994 he was appointed Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, an institution that had been in the forefront of brain research since 1950. As Director of NINDS he managed 23 intramural institute branches and laboratories with a staff of 700 scientists, physicians, and administrators, as well as supervising research funding in public and private institutions across the country. Noting the exciting state of neuroscience at this time, Hall stated that, “our job will be to provide the scientific leadership and institutional support to sustain these advances.”

Dr. Hall returned to UCSF in 1998 to serve as Executive Vice Chancellor for Research, intent on making the developing Mission Bay campus “the most exciting and vibrant place in biomedical research.” In 2001 Dr. Hall became President and CEO of En Vivo Pharmaceuticals, a startup biotechnology company for developing drugs for neurodegenerative disease. From 2002 to 2005 he moved to southern California to be Senior Associate Dean for Academic Development and also Director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. From 2005 to 2007 he was first President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was set up as a state agency for funding stem cell research in California under state Proposition 71.

During his varied career as educator, investigator, and senior statesman of neuroscience, Dr. Hall has published more than 100 papers and reviews, and made fundamental contributions to the investigation of the neuromuscular junction. He has written the textbook An Introduction to Molecular Neurobiology, and was a founding editor of the journal Neuron. He has been a member of the scientific advisory committee for Neurobiology of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Max-Planck Institutes in Germany, and the RIKEN Institute in Japan. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Neurological Association and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2003 he received the Purkynje Medal for Scientific Achievement from the Czech Academy of Science.

Mr. Freeman is a noted retired tax attorney and founder of the Los Angeles and Orange County based law firm, Freeman, Freeman & Smiley, LLP. From 2005 through 2008, he was recognized by Worth magazine as among the 100 top attorneys in the United States. In 1999, Mr. Freeman was featured by Bloomberg Financial as one of the nation’s leading estate planning attorneys. He is the founder of National Philanthropy Day, proclaimed by Congress and celebrated throughout the United States since 1986. Mr. Freeman has received numerous civic and philanthropic awards, including the UCI Medal and the Men of Character recognition by the Orange County Council, Boy Scouts of America.

Mr. Freeman brings to First Foundation clients the experience he gained as a consultant to nearly 300 family foundations, support organizations and public charities throughout the United States. He currently serves as a director of several family foundations, independent foundations, and public charities. Currently, he serves as Chairman of the Board for The Literacy Project, and a Life Director of both the California Institute of the Arts and Orange County’s Pacific Symphony. Mr. Freeman is past Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the University of California, Irvine Foundation and currently chairs its $1 billion campaign. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, where he taught Organization, Management and Tax Aspects of Public Charities and Private Foundations.

Mr. Freeman is the author of three books and over 30 articles and treatises on philanthropy and wealth planning. His latest book, published in 2009, co-authored with Dr. Lee Hausner, Ph.D., is entitled The Legacy Family… The Definitive Guide to Creating a Successful Multigenerational Family. He is the co-author with Dr. Hausner of a leading treatise for family foundations, entitled "A Founder’s Guide to the Family Foundation". He speaks throughout the country on behalf of professional associations, such as the Council on Foundations, the Association of Small Foundations, and the American Bar Association.

Mr. Freeman is a graduate of Stanford University (B.A. with Distinction, 1967), University of California at Los Angeles (J.D., 1970), and the University of San Diego (LL.M. in Taxation, 1984). Until retirement, Mr. Freeman was designated a Certified Specialist in Taxation under the State Bar of California.